09 March 2011

Miss Gump

Our family nickname for Anya is "gump" or sometimes "Miss Gump."  Imagine our delight when we actually came across a storybook featuring a little girl (Nellie Lou) doing various imaginative hair styles on a customer (Miss Gump) who keeps asking for something different.  There are lots of extraordinary 'dos, such as shaping into an umbrella, a large piece of swiss cheese, an island with a palm tree surrounded by waves...

This week our Miss Gump was pretending to style her grandmother's hair.  She combed it this way and that, and finished by saying, "Now we need to comb your hair down over your ears.  You have big ears, Grandma -- " in a matter-of-fact tone -- "nearly as big as Julia Gillard's."  (Does this count as political awareness?)

Meanwhile, Callum has started to take notice of letters and numbers more.  He was lying next to me in bed, on his side, then arched backward and said, "I'm C!"  This amazed me, as this means that not only does he know the letter, he is actually picturing the shape his body is making, and connecting the two.

Anya and Callum have been playing together more and more, and laughing together which is delightful to eavesdrop on.  When our neighbour's daughter comes over to play their favorite group game is for Callum to roar and chase them while they run around screaming.  But on their own, they usually play elaborate games like being at school, or travelling into outer space.

Best of all, I heard Callum bustling around in their room, then call to Anya, "You can come back now!"  She was drawing something at the table next to me.  I asked Anya what Callum had been working on, and she said, "Cleaning the room."  It seems she directed him to tidy up (he must have strewn toys around as usual), and left the room until he had done it!

02 March 2011

Toothy Tales

I'm sure the world needs more help persuading children to behave when their teeth are getting brushed. Lately we've been constructing more and more elaborate tales to help Callum open his mouth properly for teeth time. It all started innocently enough with "open your mouth wider, wide enough for a truck to drive in." This progressed to "here comes the train, choo choo, chugga chugga, it's driving around the track" (i.e. the teeth). Now we have a bear going into a cave, looking for his jar of honey in all the corners, and finding all sorts of surprises like a spider, or a bat. Eventually he finds the honey, says YUM, and finishes by cleaning his rug (the tongue, of course).

Another recent development is the "talking spot" where the kids are sent to discuss their conflict until they agree or are at least no longer shouting about it. This took on a new twist today when Anya slammed a door again, despite repeated scoldings about door slamming. I asked for her input, saying I needed to come up with some way to make sure she would remember not to do it any more.

I talked ruefully about the way I was disciplined as a child (toys confiscated AND bottom smacked). After several minutes, she still didn't seem to have any comment or suggestion so I said sadly that I guessed I would have to give her a spanking (the last resort in our household); she asked for one more minute to think, then suggested that she should sit on the talking spot which is right next to the door she slammed, and she should gaze at the door to remember not to slam it any more.

I thanked her for the good suggestion and we put it into effect immediately. She missed out on most of story time, but came in toward the end.

Fingers crossed that this self-administered discipline sticks in her head. I will be feeling like the most brilliant parent in the world if this works!
Ferocious grin